Garmin Speak Plus review: Alexa is just a passive road-trip buddy

How much does Alexa elevate a dash cam’s usefulness?

Amazon's Alexa is quickly seeping into all parts of life thanks to clever partnerships with OEMs, and Garmin was one of the most unexpected partnerships announced last year. The maker of navigation systems, dash cams, and wearables debuted the Garmin Speak at the tail-end of 2017. For $119, you get a miniature Echo Dot-like device that puts Alexa in the car with you.

At CES this year, Garmin added another device to that new family—the $229 Speak Plus. Instead of simply acting as a home for Alexa, the Speak Plus also includes an embedded dashboard camera, making it a more practical car accessory than the original Speak. While dash cams are undoubtably useful, the usefulness of Alexa in the car is debatable. Alexa rose to fame as a virtual assistant for the home, and the Garmin Speak Plus doesn't make the strongest case for it to be a necessary part of your daily commute yet.

The Speak Plus' footprint is so small, it'll easily disappear behind your rear-view mirror if you don't position it properly. The short cylinder measures 1.47 x 1.48 inches and has a 114 x 64-pixel OLED screen surrounded by an LED light ring on one end and a camera lens on the other. The screen shows simple direction cues like arrows and measurements that you can follow while you're driving, but you don't necessarily need to see the screen since Alexa reads out directions as well.

Only two buttons adorn the side of the Speak Plus: one to mute the microphone and one to power on the device. The underside of the device holds a microSD card slot that can take a card up to 64GB. The unit we reviewed came with an 8GB card. The larger the microSD card, the more footage you can store at once. But the Speak Plus supports loop recording, so you never have to worry about the microSD card being full. The device will erase the oldest footage first once the card gets filled up. Like Garmin's other dash cams, you can view the footage using the company's VIRB mobile app (designed for its action cams) or you can remove the microSD card and insert it into your PC.

Attaching the Speak Plus to your windshield is easy: it uses a magnetic arm with an adhesive pad that sticks to the glass. Garmin provides one extra adhesive pad so you can change the location of the device if you wish (good luck scraping the first pad off your windshield). I prefer suction mounts to adhesives because they let you more easily move the dash cam to another spot.

The Speak Plus' camera is the only differentiator between this device and the regular Speak, but it's an important distinction that adds a lot of value. Sure, having Alexa as a car companion is great for hands-free music playback controls and answers to trivial questions about the forecast. But Amazon has made it so most smartphone users can access Alexa from anywhere through various mobile apps—therefore, the hands-free aspect of the regular Speak is the only reason you'd want to invest in that device. At least with the Speak Plus, you get an ever-watchful dash cam in addition to Alexa.

The Garmin Speak Plus.

Valentina Palladino

The power port. The device comes with a car adapter and cable.

Valentina Palladino

The front-facing dash cam records footage at a maximum of 1080p at 30fps.

Valentina Palladino

Two side buttons for muting the mic and powering on the device.

Valentina Palladino

Opposite the dash cam is an OLED display surrounded by an LED light ring.

Even when placed where you can always see it, the Speak Plus doesn't obstruct your vision while driving.

Valentina Palladino

Alexa integration

While a number of car manufacturers are building Alexa into their vehicles, plenty of Alexa-less cars will still be on the road in the future. In those cases, the Garmin Speak Plus is one of the few ways you can get Alexa into the car. Most things Alexa can do in an Echo device can be done in the Garmin Speak Plus: read the news, check the weather, answer random questions, control smart home devices, and more. With the new Garmin skill enabled, Alexa can also read turn-by-turn driving directions through the Speak Plus.

However, Alexa doesn't totally live inside the Speak Plus. Garmin's Speak app is needed to set up the device, and it tells you during the initial setup that the program must be running on your smartphone for any of your Alexa commands to be fulfilled on the Speak Plus. While it's the dash cam that hears you, all the information is drawn from your smartphone because Alexa requires a connection (Wi-Fi at home in a device like an Echo, cellular on the road in this case) to work.

Further Reading

This implementation isn't surprising, especially considering Amazon has pushed Alexa voice services to many of its apps across many OSes. But it's not the best implementation because I often forgot to open the Garmin Speak app when I got in my car. In those cases, the dash cam recorded footage continuously while I drove, but I couldn't ask Alexa to do anything for me—including reading off directions using the Garmin skill.

The Speak Plus warned me that it was having trouble "connecting to the Internet" when the app wasn't open. A similar alert came through the device's speakers when my smartphone had a bad cellular data connection—something I couldn't control or fix until I drove to an area with better reception. If your phone isn't getting data, Alexa won't work at all.

The Garmin Speak app prompts you to enable the Garmin Alexa skill when you set up the Speak Plus. Since dictated driving directions aren't part of Alexa's basic skill set, you must say, "Alexa, ask Garmin to take me home" when you want the device to read out driving directions to your home. Without the "ask Garmin" portion of the prompt, Alexa will be confused, and you will be frustrated.

Garmin's driving directions dictated by Alexa are not very different from driving directions given by Apple or Google Maps. Alexa's voice tells you when you're approaching a turn, which streets to turn onto, when to stay on the road ahead, and other navigation information. If you're nervous about missing a turn, the tiny screen's arrows and distance estimations are a decent alternative to having a maps app constantly open on your smartphone.

But Alexa can tell you other things while you're driving, including traffic conditions, weather reports, and more. You can search for nearby destinations, asking Alexa to ask Garmin to find the closest coffee shop, bookstore, or Thai restaurant. This comes in handy if you're already on the road and need to make an unexpected stop.

While Spotify integration doesn't work yet on the Speak Plus, you can ask Alexa to play music from Amazon Music (a feature that's only useful if you get most of your music through Amazon). I still listen to the radio when I'm in the car, so I'd love for Alexa to be able to control my car's radio, switching between my saved stations. The closest you could get to that is connecting Alexa to an iHeartRadio account, but sometimes using the old-school, regular radio in the car is more convenient than hooking up yet another streaming service to yet another accessory.

Further Reading

The most frustrating thing about Alexa in the car is that it's a fragmented experience, but you may not realize how fragmented unless you've been around cars that have Alexa integrated. Automobile manufacturers are starting to embrace Alexa—Toyota, BMW, Nissan, and others either already have Alexa skills and capabilities for certain vehicles, or they have plans to create them. But some of those features are either not compatible with the Garmin Speak Plus or would require you to have special, connected car hardware. You can't assume that just because the car's Alexa skill can do something, you can do it with the Speak Plus.

For example, Ford’s Alexa skill lets you ask Alexa for your car’s mileage. Unless you have a compatible Ford vehicle with Sync Connect, you can’t ask Alexa on the Speak Plus that same question and expect an answer.

Since the Speak Plus is an accessory and not part of the car itself, Alexa can't do many of the things you may expect it to do in a vehicle. Most infotainment systems with Alexa or automobile Alexa integrations have the basic Alexa features—news and weather updates, reminders and to-do list editing, smart home device control, and more—plus special features that the car manufacturer has built in to its own Alexa skill. The Speak Plus' special feature that was most practical for me was driving guidance. I don't have a long commute, and I don't frequently take long driving trips, so I didn't have much use for Alexa while my hands were on the wheel. Anything I wanted to know I could look up when I reached my destination.

50 Reader Comments

I must be old.... the idea of paying for a network of (probably hackable) devices to listen to me and track me wherever I go just to save firing up a purchase app doesn’t appeal to me. I’m not a Luddite - I started programming machine language probably before a good chunk of this audience was born. But I do value my anonymity.

We still don’t get how valuable this info is. We still don’t get how hard it is to destroy but how easy it is to copy. And we jump into this collection universe readily

I must be old.... the idea of paying for a network of (probably hackable) devices to listen to me and track me wherever I go just to save firing up a purchase app doesn’t appeal to me. I’m not a Luddite - I started programming machine language probably before a good chunk of this audience was born. But I do value my anonymity.

We still don’t get how valuable this info is. We still don’t get how hard it is to destroy but how easy it is to copy. And we jump into this collection universe readily

And we are also exposing our children, our friends, and at times complete strangers to whatever becoms of all of this. Consumerism has become a life unto itself.

And we are also exposing our children, our friends, and at times complete strangers to whatever becoms of all of this. Consumerism has become a life unto itself.

Corporatism as well. If the government said “hey put these microphones in your house and we’ll give you a 1000 extra on your tax return” there would be riots in the streets. Amazon does it and we try to put a microphone and camera in our bedroom. Imagine if the government made an app that wanted your face? (Like the google selfie app). We’d be very wary. Google does it and we post on Facebook (another scavenger of data). We just don’t understand what we’re giving up.

I must be old.... the idea of paying for a network of (probably hackable) devices to listen to me and track me wherever I go just to save firing up a purchase app doesn’t appeal to me. I’m not a Luddite - I started programming machine language probably before a good chunk of this audience was born. But I do value my anonymity.

We still don’t get how valuable this info is. We still don’t get how hard it is to destroy but how easy it is to copy. And we jump into this collection universe readily

And we are also exposing our children, our friends, and at times complete strangers to whatever becoms of all of this. Consumerism has become a life unto itself.

And we are also exposing our children, our friends, and at times complete strangers to whatever becoms of all of this. Consumerism has become a life unto itself.

Corporatism as well. If the government said “hey put these microphones in your house and we’ll give you a 1000 extra on your tax return” there would be riots in the streets. Amazon does it and we try to put a microphone and camera in our bedroom. Imagine if the government made an app that wanted your face? (Like the google selfie app). We’d be very wary. Google does it and we post on Facebook (another scavenger of data). We just don’t understand what we’re giving up.

It would be interesting to know what percentage of Ars readers have a Facebook account. The Stasi would wet their pants at the data given freely to Facebook.

I'm not going to shoot up the place, but I flip the bird when I drive past Facebook HQ and have to look at that douchey thumbs up sign.

I must be old.... the idea of paying for a network of (probably hackable) devices to listen to me and track me wherever I go just to save firing up a purchase app doesn’t appeal to me. I’m not a Luddite - I started programming machine language probably before a good chunk of this audience was born. But I do value my anonymity.

We still don’t get how valuable this info is. We still don’t get how hard it is to destroy but how easy it is to copy. And we jump into this collection universe readily

And we are also exposing our children, our friends, and at times complete strangers to whatever becoms of all of this. Consumerism has become a life unto itself.

I must be old.... the idea of paying for a network of (probably hackable) devices to listen to me and track me wherever I go just to save firing up a purchase app doesn’t appeal to me. I’m not a Luddite - I started programming machine language probably before a good chunk of this audience was born. But I do value my anonymity.

We still don’t get how valuable this info is. We still don’t get how hard it is to destroy but how easy it is to copy. And we jump into this collection universe readily

And we are also exposing our children, our friends, and at times complete strangers to whatever becoms of all of this. Consumerism has become a life unto itself.

I suspect that I've been at this and unfortunately programming in machine language even further back than biffbobfred, not a brag, but a complaint. I avoided such as soon as possible and have even participated in the design of a higher level language. I am a consumer of interactive languages and long for the day when I can voice my designs to a language platform and have the program happen as I speak. I would even accept an implanted interface if it would allow me direct access to the internet and allow the information to appear in my brain as direct from my memory. At the same time, I want absolute control of what leaves the control of my local hardware and software and certainly of my thoughts. With even what we have now and certainly what is coming in the next decade or two, vast amounts of data can be stored locally, with incremental data brought in continuously. Such levels of information access SHOULD normalize many discussions, but certainly not all.

But let us get back to cars and Alexa and Garmin Plus. Their inability to localize car-based, local functions means that they will intermittently fail, usually at the least convenient time and possibly with disastrous results if they distract the driver from his/her primary task...driving the car. In the next decade or two, the driving function will largely be turned over to the vehicle, hopefully allowing the distracted or tired or DUx(choose your poison) to safely reach their destination while being able to use Alexa or Echo or their successors to do whatever is possible in those times. Being old and sick, I may not see that future, but I can see the present clearly and hope for a future that does not tick some meter with my every thought.

While I'm not surprised that Amazon is trying to put ways to shop everywhere... I AM surprised that Google hasn't made a dashcam linked to Android Auto...

This!

For the features like "what is nearby" Google already has tremendous metadata and infra in the form of maps data. I have used my android phone for exactly that countless times and have had excellent results. It seems like such a natural partnership unless google has specific plans for GPS/Dash Cam business.

I must be old.... the idea of paying for a network of (probably hackable) devices to listen to me and track me wherever I go just to save firing up a purchase app doesn’t appeal to me. I’m not a Luddite - I started programming machine language probably before a good chunk of this audience was born. But I do value my anonymity.

We still don’t get how valuable this info is. We still don’t get how hard it is to destroy but how easy it is to copy. And we jump into this collection universe readily

I'm pretty much in the same general boat as you on these things. Personally, I see absolutely no utility to something like this. But then I look at the (shudder) dashboard of the Model 3, thinking about the "no buttons you can fucking feel" future and think, "well, maybe it'll be necessary to avoid an accident."

Talk about a contrived situation. I'd rather have buttons than a tech solution to a tech approach that's impractical when driving that only layers on multiple levels of complexity (and exponentially increases the points of failure).

I mean, if a fuse shorts out in my car and my instruments go dead, I can still DRIVE IT safely. I know, it's happened before.

There's this huge rush on the part of tech companies to throw all of this crap in our faces, creating issues by creating "convenience" devices, then creating more issues by using MORE tech to try to solve the previous issues. I'd rather see more thought put into form, function and design than "IT'S TECH!!!!!! BUY IT NOW!!!!!!"

Somewhere in that list of bitches I have about the entire approach they're using in the last ten or so years is the complete and utter loss of control over one's privacy for anyone using these things. I'm not going to quote Jeff Goldblum from Jurassic Park here, since obviously many new things are exceptionally useful, functional and practical. But they're the rare and wonderful exceptions in an avalanche of "what the fuck were they thinking?!?!" devices coming out these days.

Network-connected Smartphone controlled toaster ovens is, IMHO, the nadir of tech application. And it has a LOT of company there at the top of that "didn't think that one through" list.

Is THIS device on that list? Yes, but I wouldn't rank it hugely high. It certainly serves a purpose for those who think they need that purpose served. But in fulfilling that mostly contrived purpose, a lot is lost - most notably privacy. That trade off is what I object to the most. These days, our dollars spent end up compromising our privacy more and more, and that increasing trend is what I object to the most.

[edit to add this link that more or less exemplifies the way I see the problem: Free Range Comic]

I must be old.... the idea of paying for a network of (probably hackable) devices to listen to me and track me wherever I go just to save firing up a purchase app doesn’t appeal to me. I’m not a Luddite - I started programming machine language probably before a good chunk of this audience was born. But I do value my anonymity.

We still don’t get how valuable this info is. We still don’t get how hard it is to destroy but how easy it is to copy. And we jump into this collection universe readily

It’s actually way more likely that a smartphone will be hijacked by malware and turned into a listening device than an Echo, so really it isn’t increasing your risk of being spied on all that much.

I must be old.... the idea of paying for a network of (probably hackable) devices to listen to me and track me wherever I go just to save firing up a purchase app doesn’t appeal to me. I’m not a Luddite - I started programming machine language probably before a good chunk of this audience was born. But I do value my anonymity.

We still don’t get how valuable this info is. We still don’t get how hard it is to destroy but how easy it is to copy. And we jump into this collection universe readily

It’s actually way more likely that a smartphone will be hijacked by malware and turned into a listening device than an Echo, so really it isn’t increasing your risk of being spied on all that much.

...says the person who has no idea how easy or hard it is to hack an Echo.

That it increases the risk AT ALL is the problem for those of us who value our privacy. And the DEVICE itself doesn't have to be hacked. The COMPANY can be hacked. The metadata can be hacked. NOTHING ENJOYS 100% SECURITY.

You're nit-picking the argument and not seeing the whole picture. Every device has some level of "risk". ONE device may, or may not, have a high one. But put up enough of these devices, and the steel vault in which you've locked your privacy away becomes a screen door anyone can just see into through SOME hole in that network.

I must be old.... the idea of paying for a network of (probably hackable) devices to listen to me and track me wherever I go just to save firing up a purchase app doesn’t appeal to me. I’m not a Luddite - I started programming machine language probably before a good chunk of this audience was born. But I do value my anonymity.

We still don’t get how valuable this info is. We still don’t get how hard it is to destroy but how easy it is to copy. And we jump into this collection universe readily

It’s actually way more likely that a smartphone will be hijacked by malware and turned into a listening device than an Echo, so really it isn’t increasing your risk of being spied on all that much.

...says the person who has no idea how easy or hard it is to hack an Echo.

That it increases the risk AT ALL is the problem for those of us who value our privacy. And the DEVICE itself doesn't have to be hacked. The COMPANY can be hacked. The metadata can be hacked. NOTHING ENJOYS 100% SECURITY.

You're nit-picking the argument and not seeing the whole picture. Every device has some level of "risk". ONE device may, or may not, have a high one. But put up enough of these devices, and the steel vault in which you've locked your privacy away becomes a screen door anyone can just see into through SOME hole in that network.

Tree, meet forest.

The real problem is when a hacked IoT gets root permission. It can spy on your whole network.

I don’t know about all this in the thread… Wouldn’t the simpler explanation be just that Amazon wants to collect more data about our habits? Where we park says a lot about where we work and shop and go to school and recreate, which can of course inform helpful recommendations. They have our habits at home, this extends their reach outside the house.

I must be old.... the idea of paying for a network of (probably hackable) devices to listen to me and track me wherever I go just to save firing up a purchase app doesn’t appeal to me. I’m not a Luddite - I started programming machine language probably before a good chunk of this audience was born. But I do value my anonymity.

We still don’t get how valuable this info is. We still don’t get how hard it is to destroy but how easy it is to copy. And we jump into this collection universe readily

Unfortunately (because I'm in exactly the same boat), I think this does make you/us luddites, because if you DON'T want to be listened to or tracked 24/7, you would have to give up, in no particular order:

1. All voice assistants (because they rely on hearing the magic words... which means they're listening all the time);

2. All car share apps (Uber, etc) because they need your location;

3. "Find my phone" functionality;

4. Most home integration because I'm not aware of any modern ones that aren't voice-activated;

5. A lot of social apps which 'tags' your location automatically especially when you take photos;

6. Even a lot of android security features which depend on geo-fencing (not requiring a PIN if you're at home, for example).

With my Pixel I turned on "location" status in the status bar so I could see when my phone was using my location... but I gave up almost immediately because it would turn on dozens of times a day automatically because one app or another needed it. Oh, and fitness trackers - they track location too.

I must be old.... the idea of paying for a network of (probably hackable) devices to listen to me and track me wherever I go just to save firing up a purchase app doesn’t appeal to me. I’m not a Luddite - I started programming machine language probably before a good chunk of this audience was born. But I do value my anonymity.

We still don’t get how valuable this info is. We still don’t get how hard it is to destroy but how easy it is to copy. And we jump into this collection universe readily

And we are also exposing our children, our friends, and at times complete strangers to whatever becoms of all of this. Consumerism has become a life unto itself.

States exist merely to ensure the survival of huge trans-national corporations.

Well that one certainly came true. Amazon is in the process of seeing which government will allow it to pay the least taxes so that Amazon's workers have to pay for Amazon's infrastructure.

Note Twitter has such a deal in San Francisco. This is corporate welfare as far as I am concerned.

No, it's just called negotiating. You don't like it, vote in people who won't give tax breaks to companies. Of course, someone else will and you'll lose out on the investment that the company would've brought. Governments, despite popular opinion and day-to-day proof, aren't actually all idiots, they do their cost-benefit on these things and only agree if they win out overall. (Which is different from most welfare, which is almost always a net negative).

It might be personal preference, but Cortana is the one I’d like to see in my devices.

It does a much better job at parsing my requests and I think it feels much more natural while using it, and I don’t have almost anything Amazon so it’s a bit of a let down using it.

That being said, like others pointed, it’s extremely dangerous to have one company gather so much data on people. Just a hack could be incredibly dangerous for a criminal market or a fascist government.

A verbose dashcam review with:- no pictures of the OLED display in use- no sample video- no mention of how it's powered- no mention if it turns on automatically- no mention of backup power

Many times on Ars it's faster and more informative to watch a 3 min YouTube video than it is to read a review article here, especially when it comes to automotive topics.

You are right on most of those, but there is a picture of the power port and the caption mentions that it comes with a car adapter and cable, thus stating how it is powered. Should have also been in the body, but it was in the overall article.

Everything else I didn't see. However, I'd speculate that it does turn on automatically, based on my previous Garmin experiences; also, the device looks too small to house a dashcam, the Alexa electronics, and a battery, so I'd guess no backup power.

An 82-degree FOV means this camera is essentially worthless for its stated purpose. I can buy a Zero Edge Z3 for half the cost of this one with a 70% better FOV and resolution and I still consider that barely adequate to the task in real-world use.

I've been interested in this, as I want a dashcam and prefer Alexa to Siri. The main thing I want though is Spotify support, which Garmin has been a bit vague on. Right now their page says, "Additional streaming services, such as Spotify, are expected to be added as available."

Do you have any other info on if/when Spotify support is coming? I prefer Spotify to Apple Music, but I miss having voice activated music control in the car.

Also, what exactly does the "app needs to be running" mean? Do I have to specifically open the app every time I get in the car, or do I just need to make sure it's been started and not closed manually/phone restarted/etc?

I must be old.... the idea of paying for a network of (probably hackable) devices to listen to me and track me wherever I go just to save firing up a purchase app doesn’t appeal to me. I’m not a Luddite - I started programming machine language probably before a good chunk of this audience was born. But I do value my anonymity.

We still don’t get how valuable this info is. We still don’t get how hard it is to destroy but how easy it is to copy. And we jump into this collection universe readily

And we are also exposing our children, our friends, and at times complete strangers to whatever becoms of all of this. Consumerism has become a life unto itself.

States exist merely to ensure the survival of huge trans-national corporations.

Well that one certainly came true. Amazon is in the process of seeing which government will allow it to pay the least taxes so that Amazon's workers have to pay for Amazon's infrastructure.

Note Twitter has such a deal in San Francisco. This is corporate welfare as far as I am concerned.

No, it's just called negotiating. You don't like it, vote in people who won't give tax breaks to companies. Of course, someone else will and you'll lose out on the investment that the company would've brought. Governments, despite popular opinion and day-to-day proof, aren't actually all idiots, they do their cost-benefit on these things and only agree if they win out overall. (Which is different from most welfare, which is almost always a net negative).

So in other words, vote, even though it won't do shit to help? Great.

As for your blanket understanding of government, I doubt you know much of history. They are frequently idiots, and even more frequently do things that benefit themselves at everyone else's expense.

Only if you let it. You are entirely in control of what kind of devices are at your home, and what kind of data you choose to share online.

User ignorance is what fuels Facebook Google etc... tracking. You already know better, and are in a position to prevent it.

Individually we can make these choices, but as a society, it is permeating everything. Our private lives are for sale to the highest bidder with us receiving only tiny morsels as payment.

And that data goes everywhere with only the corporations themselves deciding how best to reveal that private data (for their own increased profit). Want to know where all America's secret bases are located? There's an app for that!

if you DON'T want to be listened to or tracked 24/7, you would have to give up, in no particular order:1. All voice assistants2. All car share apps3. "Find my phone" functionality;4. Most home integration5. A lot of social apps which 'tags' your location6. Even a lot of android security features which depend on geo-fencing

I don't want to be listened to and nothing on your list changes that. This is why I have none of those things on your list, and am glad to have none of them. I feel way more human to have nothing to do with this continuous surveillance nonsense.

In fact, this list is so weak, it is amazing to me that anyone goes for it.